NZ suspends tourism aid to Tonga over MA60 safety concerns

The New Zealand government has suspended its promised multi-million dollar aid to develop tourism in Tonga, over safety concerns around the new Chinese-made MA60 aircraft that the Tonga government plans to use for the domestic inter-island service.

Comments

"The plane is safe," he said. "Tonga is a sovereign nation and we hope that New Zealand will keep its promise."
Sorry? Can the Honourable Deputy PM kindly please clarify how he came about with such definitive statement amid the decline from the the resourceful UK and US aviation authorities to certify the planes due to its poor track record? Is he now an aircraft expert?
It was such sense of infallibility among the Government's officials that ended up with the loss of lives in the Tongan certified Princess Ashika!

There is a saying "Something for nothing is worth exactly that: Nothing" I would ask your PM would he have gone to China to purchase this plane? Tonga is indeed an Independent Kingdom, however, you do not have the necessary assets such as oil, to be truly independent so you must rely on others to help you. Your neighboring friends who have been there for many years assisting you differently do have some type of say in this MA 60 matter. I question why China, or anyone else for that matter, would just give you something for nothing.
I can go on and on but you must stop and listen to those with the experience and expertise please. It is expensive operating an airline so please don't let a free gift cloud your judgement.

The arrogance of the New Zealand Government is unbelievable. Do they really think they own Tonga? Tonga is operating this aircraft within its territory and it is none of their business to intervene. Most of the incidents regarding the MA60 happened with Burmese and Indonesian operators, and poor maintenance practices and training are the true culprits. Indonesian operators have crashed a few Boeing 737s too, why not ground the B737s operated by Air New Zealand? If NZ cares so much about Tonga, then it should donate hundreds of millions for Tonga to buy Western made aircraft. If it can't, it should ... let the Tongans run their own business. Please stop behaving like a white colonizer!

I dare to disagree. All NZ is doing is simply advising her own people to be aware of the potential danger ahead if they choose to visit Tonga and use the air service to get around. Tonga is free to certify her aircraft despite the reservation held by the international authorities. In turn NZ would not aid tourism in Tonga if Tonga chooses to compromise the safety of the tourists (many of whom are potentially Kiwis) by ignoring the safety concerns as echoed by the qualified international authorities.
NZ has come to the rescue on a similar situation before where the MV Princess Asika was self-certified by Tonga and ended up at the bottom of the ocean with huge losses (of lives and other costs). It is beyond common sense that Tonga chooses to ignore the safety concerns of her long trusted neighbor.
Could we have consulted our tourist partners when we were notified of the gifted aircraft? I recall there was once a gifted oil tanker named Lomipeau, which turned out to be a no no because the suppliers would not use it to ship our oil. China should not have been offended if we kindly declined the gift on the grounds of safety given the growing reservations from other parties.

Mate he kata, malie! There's too much talk from Government side (as usual) justifying this so called 'Gift' that is safe for travelling public. Since when Chinese give away free stuff? Never!! We shall wait and see who's paying for the Expensive operating cost, heavy maintenance, aircraft parts that made in Canada, USA etc but must be via 'China' in triple the price under terms and conditions and I bet we (Tongans) have to pay the Chinese. There's a reason why FAA (USA) and CAANZ not certifying this type and that reason is Safety. Every new aircraft type must go through extensive checks and guidelines in order to gain certification, and what has Tonga CAA done? Nothing oh apart from signing that very important paperwork. Free 'gifts' can blind a few people, why compromise Safety for something silly! Happy Flying everyone :-) PS Ha'apai people, ferry is Safer!